Filter tip feed mechanism for filter tip cigarette-making machines



July 8, 1952 F. R. TREBLE 2,502,453

FILTER TIP FEED MECHANISM FOR FILTER TIP CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINES 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed June 28, 1949 y 8, 1952 F. R. TREBLE 2,602,453

FILTER TIP FEED MECHANISM FOR FILTER TIP CIGARETTE MAKING MACHINES 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed June 28, 1949 This invention paratus for manufacturing filter tip cigarettes as described in the specification of my copending plugs from related hoppers member being grooved fiatented july 8 1952 FILTER TIP FEED S PATENT OFFICE' 2,602,453 MECHANISM FOR FILTER TIP CIGARETTE-MAKING 'ItIACHINES 'signor. to Amalgama .Limited, Luton, Engl v Britain and Northern Ireland Frederick ltichardTreblep'Luton England, as-

ted Tobacco Corporation,

and, a company of Great Application June 28, 1949, Serial No. 101,717

- In Great Britain July 2, 1948 1 Claim. (01,131-94) This invention relates to feed mechanismespe- .cially to mechanism for feeding filter tips to machines for manufacturing filter tip cigarettes.

is particularly concerned with apapplication Serial No. 43,357 filed August 10, 1948,

now abandoned. The aforesaid specification describes a machine for assembling filter tip cigarettes comprising inter alia a carrier member of cylindrical form grooved longitudinally to receive pro-formed double-length cigarettes and double-length filter for conveyanceto a travelling paper web for wrapping in the known manner and subsequent severing for the'producl'tion of filter tip cigarettes.

It has been discovered that in the charging of the hopper for the filter plugs there is a tendency for the filter plugs, due to their short length, al-

though double the normal filter plug length, to become out of alignment and awkwardly placed so that a continuous feed from'the hopper to the carrier member is not conducted smoothly without a break in the supply .Furthermore it is'a slow and tedious process to filla hopper with short lengths of filter plugs;

causing diiiiculties.

, The object of the present'invention is to obviate the aforesaid disadvantages and to this end filter plugs are used of at least four times the standard length filter plug, a grooved carrier member being provided to transfer the plugs from a hopper to the assembly mechanism, said carrier circumferentially to permit the passage of a rotary knife whereby the lengths of filter material are sub-divided during m e chanism and whilst held bythe carrier member. e

, -;;Preierably the plug carrier is rotated at the same speed as arotary cigarette carrier but has only' half the number of grooves in the plug car-.

rier relative to the cigarette'carrier, a, filter plug is not dropped fromthe plug carrier during this movement as a blank position on the plug carrier will register with the magazine. The angular displacement of the two carriers is the same for each movement.

this passage from the hopper to the assembly One form of apparatus according to this invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein: V

Fig. l is a side elevation, partly in section.

Figs. 2 and 3 are transverse sectional elevations taken on lines IIII and IIIIII, respectively, of Fig. 1, and Q Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation, similar to Fig. l but showing parts in another position. The filter tip cigarette assembling machine is provided with a double hopper ll, wherein one side i2 receives double length cigarettes, and the other side I3 receives filter tip. plugs'which each are four times the length of the finished filter tip plug. The long cigarettes and the long plugs age separated in the hopper by a thin partition -A rotatable drum assembly is provided comprising a cigarette drum l5 and a filter-tip plug drum it, both of said drumsbeing axially aligned on and keyed to a driving spindle I1 so that both drums rotate simultaneously with the spindle. Preferably the drive to the spindle I! is continuous, but may be intermittent, and is efiected inany suitable manner. Both drums are of equal diameters. The cigarette drum I5 is provided with a number, for example, twenty, of longitudinal grooves la in its periphery, circumferentially spaced apart, whilst the filter-tip plug drum I6 is provided with similar grooves I9 but only half the number of those in the drum 15, that is, in'the example, ten grooves H! in the drum [6. Cigarettes 2U dropout of the hopper l2 into the groves [8 in thedrum l5, whilst filter-tip plugs 2! drop out of the hopperv l3 into the grooves l9 in the drum It. The drums'rotate clockwise, Figs. 2 and 3, and the cigarettes and plugs are retained in the grooves by retaining strips 22, 23,

respectively which conform generally to the peripheries of the drums. j l

' hoppers l2 and I3, and the drums I5 and I6 respectively, in the known manner.

Whilst the plugs 2i are held in the grooves IQ of the drum It they are cut'into halves by a circular knife 26 which is driven at high speed and of which the cutting edge projects into an annular groove 27 in the drum I6.

I Cigarettes drop out of the grooves I8 in the drum l5, when the respective grooves are at the. bottom of the drum, into a magazine 28. Simi-: larly, the half of each filter-tip plug nearer the cigarette, the left-hand half in Fig. 1, drops out.

. 3 of the groove IS in the drum I6 into the magazine 28, the other half of each plug remote from the cigarette, the right-hand half in Fig. 1, falls on to a fixed platform 29 which is elevated above the bottom of the magazine 28. The magazine 28 may 'be' adapted tohold two or more cigarettes, one aboveanother, and a similar number of plugs.

As the number of spaced rgrooves'in the drum I6 is only half the number of grooves in the drum I5, cigarettes will drop out of two successive grooves I8 whilst half plugs are dropping 'outof only one groove I 9. At one positioninthefsiniultaneous rotation of the drums I and I6, a cigarette will drop out of a groove I8 into the magazine 28, a half-plug will drop out of a groove I9 into the magazine 28, and the other half plug will drop out of the same groove l9 onto the platform 29. At the next position in the rotation of the drums, a cigarette will drop out of the next groove I8, but there will be no groove I9 registering with the magazine and consequently no plug or half-plugs will drop into the magazine or on to the platform from the drum I6, but the half-plug now resting on the platform 29 will be pushed, by means hereinafter described, into the magazine 28. p

The bottom double-length cigarette and doublelength filter in the magazine 28 lying on the platform 30 which constitutes the floor of said magazine, and which are now substantially in axial alignment, are transferred to the cigarette garniture or paper folder BI in the manner described in my aforementioned application Serial No. 43,357, that is, by a lug 32 on an endless chain 33 which abuts the end of the filter plug and pushes the two components along the platform 30 into the garniture, the lug 32 projecting into the magazine 28 through a slot 34 in the platform 30. As one complete cigarette and filter plug is pushed out of the magazine 28 by the lug 32 the next higher cigarette and plug in the magazine descends onto the platform 30.

The half plug disposed on the platform 29 is pushed towards the drum I 5 and into the magazine 28 by a ram 35 adapted to be projected through a guide sleeve 36 on the wall 31 by suitable operating means (not shown) timed so as to project the ram through the wall 31 approximately at the moment when a cigarette is falling out of the drum I5 but no plug is falling out of the drum I6; consequently two half-plugs which were aligned in one groove I9 of the drum I6 now become disposed one above the other in the magazine 28, thereby ensuring that each cigarette descending from the drum I5 is provided with a filter plug when it reaches the platform 30.

The double-length cigarettes and filter plugs are wrapped in the garniture 3| in paper 38 passing around rollers 39, and thereafter they are severed in the known manner to form normal length filter tipped cigarettes. 7

It will be appreciated that the gearing employed for effecting the timed operational relationship of the various parts follow accepted practice. A cigarette 20 will drop from the drum I5 into the magazine 28 at intervals at the end of each movement of the drum equal to the angular spacing between grooves I8, whilst the "from; half of a plug 2I will drop from the drum I6 into the said magazine and the rear half of the same plug will drop onto the platform 29 at twice the said intervals, that is, at intervals equal to the angular spacing between the grooves I9. I

The invention has been described more particularly for use with the filter tip cigarette machine diselosed in the specification of my application Serial No. 43,357, but it is to be understood that the apparatus for delivering filter plugs and their "severance to useful lengths may be applied to other types of filter tip cigarette forming machines.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters P'atentis:

A machine for making filter-tip cigarettes, comprising a longitudinally grooved rotary filtertip plug carrier, a longitudinally grooved rotary cigarette carrier, both carriers being disposed in axial alignment and being adapted for synchronous rotation, the plug carrier having half the number of grooves of the. cigarette carrier, separate charging hoppers associated with each said carrier, means for retaining cigarettes and plugs in the grooves of said carriers during approximately one half revolution of said carrier's, said plug carrier having an annular groove located medially of the ends of said carrier, a rotary knife engaging in said annular groove whereby to out in half plugs disposed in the longitudinal grooves in said plug carrier, a magazine disposed below said cigarette carrier and the adjacent half of said plug carrier, '2. fixed platform disposed below the other half of said plug carrier, the said platform being elevated above the floor of said magazine, a plunger device adapted to push plugs off said platform into said magazine, a 's'e'cond platform below said maga'zineonto which a cigarette and a half plug are received in adjacent end-tb-end relation, an assembly m'echanism 'for wrapping the cigarette and plugs and a mechanism for transferring the cigarette and the plug from the magazine to the assembly mechanism.

FREDERICK RICHARD TREBLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record "in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Lubbock July 4, I939 

